Eventually he heard Noah curse at Jake, telling him to keep his sex stories to himself. In the next instant Noah was stood in the doorway. He wore leather like always, his dark hair slick from the shower Drew guessed he’d taken.
“You look in a better mood than you did this morning,” Drew said.
Noah filled a cup with some bitter coffee and sat down across the desk from him.
“I had a long walk to help clear my head.”
“I take it you’ve thought through some of your problems,” Drew said.
“Do you have any idea what that was like to see the blood on the sheets?”
Drew knew where this was going. In all the years they’d been sharing women together, they had never once encountered a virgin.
“I was there, Noah. I saw the blood.”
Silence met his words. He saw Noah working things out. For as long as he could remember, Drew had known when his friend was about to tell him something that would change their lives. Most of the time Noah’s ideas were for the better, but every once in a while they were not the best out thoughts.
“I want to keep her.”
“What?”
“Cheryl. I want to keep her, Drew. I know we said we’d never settle down without talking about it long and hard, but I’ve got to have her.”
The desperation he heard in his friend’s voice shocked him. Noah was usually the guy who walked away from the women while Drew tried to play around some more.
“Are you sure about this? Once we start there will be no turning back. Cheryl is a lifetime kind of woman, not a drag along until you’re done.” Drew warned his friend as best he could. Making a lifelong decision like this could ruin her life.
“You don’t think I haven’t thought of that?”
“No. I don’t. Last night you were all over the blonde until Cheryl turned up, and then she had your undivided attention. How long will you hold out until another woman takes your fancy?” He was being harsh, but the choice that Noah was about to make was not to be taken lightly.
“That’s different.”
“Really? How different? Because from where I was sitting if Cheryl hadn’t walked in when she did, you would have been more than happy to be screwing that woman instead of her.”
Noah stood to his feet, glaring across the desk at him. “I wasn’t going to fuck the blonde. She was a bit of fun until Cheryl came in. I never expected her to have the guts to do what she did last night, but she chose us. That’s got to mean something, Drew. I can’t let her go.”
“Even if you hurt her?”
The tension grew inside the room. Drew saw the workers were standing, listening to their conversation.
“Yes,” Noah whispered.
“I can’t let you hurt her.”
“I would never willingly hurt her.”
Taking a deep breath Drew observed his friend. There clearly was a difference inside him.
“You want her?” Drew asked.
“Yes.”
He knew that he should talk his friend out of going to her. What they’d done to Cheryl had been amazing. The truth of their encounter was that they’d only scratched the surface of their desire for her. If everything went badly, at least he would be part of it to help get Cheryl at the bitter end.
“Then I guess we better go and find our little virgin temptress.”
Noah burst out laughing. “She’s not a virgin anymore.”
“Compared to what we want to do to her, she is.”
Chapter Five
Noah stared at her over the crowded market. Her hair was pulled back into another tight clip, which made him want to remove the damn thing and watch her hair flowing free down her back. He and Drew had gone to her house to call on her only to find no one home. Saturday was one of the market days in town. The next one would be on a Tuesday and then Thursday. It was one of the features that bought locals from neighbouring towns to their own. The goods on sale were top quality with the freshest meat available outside of a supermarket.
The mechanic shop had closed early like it did every Saturday. Running his fingers through his hair, Noah walked round the bunch of people separating him from Cheryl.
His cock twitched inside his leather pants as he watched her pick up a lemon and give the sour fruit a sniff. She looked so happy and innocent that she made his heart ache to be near her. The warnings Drew had given him he understood. The truth, which he didn’t want to admit to his friend, was that if their redhead hadn’t turned up, he would have taken the blonde to bed. He hated himself for the choices he made, but he couldn’t stop the urges inside him.
She was paying for her fruit and vegetables when he got close, pulling aside her glorious red hair and kissing her neck. Cheryl froze but didn’t pull away from his touch.